Case Number 27076

Legit: Season 1

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All Rise...

Judge David Johnson is 2 legit 2 quit.

The Charge

He wants to help in the worst way.

Opening Statement

Australian comedian Jim Jefferies scores his own series on FX and, truth be
told, it's sort of a head-scratcher.

Facts of the Case

Jim (Jefferies) is trying to help. No, really, he wants to be a decent
person. It's not in his nature though. He prefers indulging in own neuroses and
going out of his way to piss people off with his snark. But when he starts
hanging out with Billy (DJ Qualls), who spend his life in a wheelchair, and his
oblivious brother Steve, Jim sees the opportunity to make himself a slightly
better person—though, predictably, it often goes horribly wrong.

The Evidence

Legit started off rough. Very rough. Once the pilot wrapped, I came
away loathing Jim Jefferies (his character at least), uninterested in the plot
hook and free of laughter. There is some solace that Jefferies apparently found
the pilot underwhelming as well. The good news: the show gets better. Not miles
better, but somewhere along the way, these guys find their footing and end up
producing a passable, surprisingly sentimental, sporadically funny
half-hour.

Let's start with Jefferies. I remember this guy from his appearances with
Opie and Anthony and recall generous amounts of chortling from my end when he
came on. The guy was potty-mouthed, but had a quick wit and biting edge to his
comedy. Frankly, it was probably overdue that he got his own comedy. But in the
context of this show—even through he's essentially playing himself, a
profane Australian comedian—his character his uneven. In the pilot he's a
wooden, insult-generating machine, which carries over somewhat into subsequent
episodes; thankfully, he takes on a bit more nuance as he hands with his friends
(particularly Qualls), grounding his invective into a more well-rounded persona.
Which is important as the series is about this dink trying to do decent things
and failing.

Eventually, that dynamic comes into focus, and when Legit is at its
best, it's crude, politically incorrect (Jefferies, to a cop on why he bought a
Dodge Challenger for his disabled friend: "He's challenged,
officer."), awkwardly funny and surprisingly sentimental.

As it stands now, Legit: Season 1 is too hit-and-miss to earn a
full-on recommendation—but the groundwork is laid for a decent future
outing.